Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
3-3 , 1-1
Ball State
1-5 , 0-2
Eastern Downs Ball State, 24-10, for Homecoming Victory
10/7/2023 6:53:00 PM | Football
Evans breaks the program's all-time scoring record with his 32nd career score
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Austin Smith (Ellenwood, Ga./Cedar Grove) was an efficient 18-of-28 passing for 192 yards and two scores, JB Mitchell III (Alabaster, Ala./Thompson) posted another career game, and Samson Evans (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge/Iowa) claimed the record for touchdowns in a career as the Eastern Michigan University football team downed visiting Ball State University, 24-10, Saturday, Oct. 7, on Homecoming. The Eagles, who lead wire-to-wire inside Rynearson Stadium to win their fourth home game in a row, improved to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Mid-American Conference play while the Cardinals slipped to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the MAC.
Evans etched his name into the record books as the program's top scorer as his 2-yard touchdown score in the second quarter gave him 32 for his career and broke the tie with Gary Patton (1984-87), who held the mark for 26 years. Evans, who finished with 42 yards on the ground and needs just 32 more to reach 2,000 for his career, is the program's all-time rushing touchdown leader as well, a mark he broke last year.
Smith, who connected on a pair of touchdown passes, including a 50-yarder to Hamze El-Zayat (Dearborn, Mich./Fordson/Fordham) and another to Mitchell, recorded a season-high 192 yards through the air, finishing five shy of his career-high 197 yards accumulated last year against the Cardinals in a 20-16 road win, Oct. 16, 2022. Smith's top target on the day was Mitchell, who recorded career-highs in receptions and yards with seven and 71, respectively, while recording his first scoring grab as an Eagle. El-Zayat posted 63 yards, his highest total as Eagle. Mitchell, who entered the game with 11 catches and 103 yards, posted career-highs in receptions and yardage for the fourth game in a row, surpassing the five grabs for 48 yards he tallied at Central Michigan University, Sept. 30.
While the offense played well, the defense once again shined bright as the Eagles limited the Cardinals to just 10 points, including pitching a shutout in the second half. Joe Sparacio (Naples, Fla./First Baptist Academy/Boston College) led the way with nine tackles and was one of three players with sacks, a group that included Elijah Williams (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) and Peyton Price (Lafayette, Ind./Jefferson). The Eagles also won the turnover battle as they forced two turnovers, including David Carter Jr. (Ecorse, Mich./River Rouge) recovering his first career fumble, which was the first forced fumble by Barry Manning (Stone, Mountain, Ga./Tucker), while Tim Grant-Randall (Conroe, Tex./Oak Ridge/Blinn) secured the first interception of his career.
How It Happened
Eastern Michigan got on the scoreboard first and jumped out to a 3-0 lead with 5:54 remaining in the first quarter as Jesus Gomez (Puebla, Mexico/Prepa Tec Puebla) blasted a 53-yard field goal. Ball State then tied it up at 3-3 before the Eagles responded with a two-yard touchdown rush from Evans to jump back in front, 10-3. The Eagles then added a touchdown with 6:36 left in the second quarter with Mitchell pulling down a 3-yard pass from Smith to make it a 17-3 lead before Ball State scored with 2:32 remaining in the half to give the hosts a 17-10 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Eagles' 50-yard touchdown pass from Smith to El-Zayat was the only scoring as Eastern stretched its lead to the final margin of 14 points, 24-10.
Game Notes
» Evans is now the program's all-time touchdown leader as he plowed his way into the end zone from 2-yards out to break his tie with Gary Patton (1984-87) for the most touchdowns in program history. Evans, who has scored all 32 of his touchdowns on the ground, finished the day with 42 yards on the ground and one reception for nine yards to supplement his one TD. He now needs just 32 yards this season to break the 2,000-yard barrier for his Eastern career, which would make him the 12th different player to do so for the Green and White.
» Mitchell pulled in a three-yard pass from Smith in the corner of the end zone, tapping his toe just inside the marker for his first career touchdown. Mitchell finished the day hauling in seven receptions for 71 yards, averaging 10 per catch. His seven receptions are the second most of the season. Tanner Knue (Mason, Ohio/Mason) holds the most receptions in a single game this season for EMU as he secured eight for 73 yards and one score in Eastern's home-opening contest against the Howard Bison, Sept. 1.
» El-Zayat caught a touchdown pass for 50 yards to give the Eagles a two-possession lead. The touchdown was El-Zayat's second career receiving touchdown pass at Eastern Michigan and his second that went for 50 yards as he also hooked up with Smith for a 50-yard score at home against UMass, Sept. 16. El-Zayat finished the game with two grabs for 63 yards, surpassing his season-best total of 62 yards he collected against the Minutemen.
» Smith threw for 192 yards for Eastern Michigan in the win over the Cardinals. The game was a season-high for Smith. The quarterback has had three previous games in his career where he has thrown for more than 190 yards in a game, all came in 2022. Smith came up just five-yards shy of tying a career-high (197 yards) which he captured last season against the Cardinals in a 20-16 win on the road, Oct. 22.
» Sparacio led the Eagles in tackles once again, recording nine in the triumph over Ball State. The graduate student has recorded at least eight tackles in all six games this season, but it was just his second game with less than 10 tackles this season. The graduate student continues to lead the conference in tackles with 69. Sparacio also checks in high nationally, ranking fifth in the FBS in total tackles.
» EMU's first drive of the game resulted in Gomez hitting yet another deep kick, this time seeing the lefty connect from 53-yards away to stake the Eagles to a 3-0 lead. The kick was the fourth of his career of 50-yards or longer and marked his second 50-yarder in as many weeks as he kicked a career and school-record-tying 55-yarder at Central Michigan, Sept. 30. Gomez finished the day 1-for-2.
» Brian Dooley (Bowling Green, Ohio/Toledo St. John's Jesuit) started the 53rd game of his Eastern Michigan career, moving him closer to tying Sidy Sow (2018-22) for the most in a career in program history. Sow started 55-of-57 games played, both of which are EMU records, while Dooley now has started 53-of-55 games.
» With the aid of linebacker Justin Jefferson (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice), Grant-Randall secured the first interception of his career to secure the Eastern Michigan win. Late in the fourth quarter, a Ball State receiver made a catch, turned, and was greeted by Jefferson, who dislodged the ball for Grant-Randall to pluck from the sky.
» Mitchell Tomasek (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) saw five punts in the win over Ball State, including a 70-yard punt in the fourth quarter. It was his second-longest punt of the season, with his longest being 72 yards at Jacksonville State. His 70 and 72 yard punts are the longest in the MAC for the 2023 season. In addition, Tomasek is the only punter in the nation (FBS) with multiple 70+ yard punts.
» Londyn Craft (Rio Rancho, N.M./IMG Academy/Mississippi State/Kentucky) finished the game with four tackles, including one for a two-yard loss. The four tackles easily doubled his season total of two he recorded previously this season with one each against Howard and UMass while the TFL stands as the first of his career with the Eagles.
» Eastern Michigan forced the first turnover of the game at the 11:15 mark of the second quarter, a fumble recovery by Carter Jr., and forced by Manning. Carter notched his first career fumble recovery in 26 career games at Eastern Michigan. The forced fumble was also the first of Manning's career.
» Elijah Williams (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike) recorded his first career solo sack of his college football career. Williams has played 20 games in his Eastern Michigan career, and recorded one assisted sack prior to the game against Ball State.
» As a team, Eastern Michigan scored a total of 17 points in the first half against the Cardinals. The total is the second most points Eastern has scored in a half this season. The Green and White tallied 30 points in the first half in the season opener against Howard, Sept. 1.
» Eastern Michigan's defense forced two turnovers in the win against Ball State. Eastern now has three games where they have forced multiple turnovers this season, they also forced two turnovers against the University of Minnesota, Sept. 9, and again versus the UMass Minutemen, Sept. 16. EMU tallied four turnovers in the contest against the Minutemen for the first time since Nov. 19, 2019 at Northern Illinois, the Eagles forced three interceptions and recovered a fumble, resulting in a 45-17 thumping of the Huskies.
» The Cardinals went for it on fourth down on their opening drive and were stopped by the Eastern defense. With that stop, teams are now converting on just 25-percent of their fourth-down attempts, standing 4-of-15 (26.7%). EMU converted in the second quarter twice and is now 5-of-9 on the year (55.6%)
» The Eastern defense continued to keep the scoring low in the first half as it allowed three points in the first quarter and 10 points in the opening half, both of which are on par for their season averages. Ahead of the game, the Eagles were allowing an average of 2.8 points scored in the first quarter and 10.3 in the first half of play. 12.0 in the second half.
» Eastern had six different defenders register a quarterback hurry in the contest. This marks both the second most hurries and players with at least one hurry in a single game as the Eagles hurried the Howard signal caller eight times from seven different players, Sept. 1.
Historical Notes
» Eastern has now won four consecutive home games dating back to last season, marking just the second time in the Chris Creighton era the Eagles have done so. The last time it happened was four games in a row from Dec. 12, 2020-Oct. 9, 2021.
» With the victory, Eastern improves to 26-37-2 all-time in its series with Ball State and 13-20-0 when the game is played in Ypsilanti. The win also snapped a two-game skid at home to the Cardinals with the previous victory coming Nov. 2, 2017, in a 56-14 EMU decision.
» The Eagles have won back-to-back games against the Cardinals for the first time since claiming three in a row in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Those wins included decisions of 42-20 (Oct. 20, 2018) and 48-41 (Nov. 8, 2016) in Muncie and 56-14 at home (Nov. 2, 2017).
» Eastern improved to 16-32 all-time in its first Mid-American Conference home game of the season. The loss allowed the Eagles to bounce back from last year's opening loss, a 50-31 setback to visiting Buffalo, Sept. 24, 2022. EMU has now won two of its last three home league openers after downing Miami, 13-12, Oct. 9, 2021.
» The Eagles improved to 48-45-2 when playing on Homecoming and have now won three consecutive Homecoming tilts. Eastern downed UMass, 20-13, Oct. 1, 2022, after handing visiting Miami a 13-12 defeat, Oct. 9, 2021. The Eagles have now won their Homecoming game three years in a row for the first time since claiming wins in 2005, 2006, and 2007.
» Eastern is now 2-5 when playing host to Ball State on Homecoming. The only other win over the Cardinals on the special day came Oct. 17, 1987, in a 35-28 EMU victory.
» As a team, the Eagles allowed just 10 points against the Cardinals to secure the win. The previous low the Eagles allowed on defense this season was 17 in a win against UMass. It is also the fewest points on defense the Eagles allowed in a game since they held the Akron Zips to just 7 points in a 27-7 win on Nov. 10, 2018. They also allowed 7 points in that previous week against Central Michigan Nov. 3, 2018.
Up Next
The Eagles return to action Saturday, Oct. 14, at home when the Golden Flashes of Kent State University visit Rynearson Stadium. The game, which is slated for a noon kick off, will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network while Tom Helmer and Rob Rubick will call all the action on WEMU (89.1 FM) and the Varsity Network app.
Team Stats
BSU 0, EMU 3
EMU - Gomez,Jesus 53 yd field goal 9 plays, 26 yards, TOP 05:37
BSU 3, EMU 3
BSU - Courville,Jackson 37 yd field goal 6 plays, 49 yards, TOP 02:41
BSU 3, EMU 10
EMU - Evans,Samson 2 yd run (Gomez,Jesus kick), 11 plays, 65 yards, TOP 05:09
BSU 3, EMU 17
EMU - Mitchell,JB 3 yd pass from Smith,Austin (Gomez,Jesus kick) 9 plays, 62 yards, TOP 04:39
BSU 10, EMU 17
BSU - Koziol,Tanner 13 yd pass from Hatcher,Layne (Courville,Jackson kick) 8 plays, 71 yards, TOP 04:00
BSU 10, EMU 24
EMU - El-Zayat,Hamze 50 yd pass from Smith,Austin (Gomez,Jesus kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 04:23
